


and here you are living despite it all

by flintsjohn



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Brief panic attacks, Canon Disabled Character, Everybody Lives, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Michael has ADHD, Mimi is the best mom ever, Multi, Tiny bit of angst but with tons of fluff, alternate universe - no aliens, nobody's evil bc screw canon, not a single straight person in sight, very brief internalized ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 03:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18908629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flintsjohn/pseuds/flintsjohn
Summary: Mimi DeLuca doesn’t have time for another kid, or the resources. She tells herself that as she watches Jim Valenti question an eleven-year-old wrapped tightly in a blanket, a nurse clearing the burns on the kid’s forearm. She presses her lips together and stands with Ann Evans as she listens to the story spilling out of the boy in monosyllable answers to Jim’s questions. Had the people at the foster home done this to him? Yes. Had he run away because of that? Yes. Did he know where he was going when he ran away? No – Yes – To his siblings. Did he want to go back? Not ever.





	and here you are living despite it all

**Author's Note:**

> i've started writing this well before the finale aired because someone commented on one of my posts that they would've liked to see mimi take care of michael like she did with the other kids, and then it kinda.... got out of control and turned into the longest fic i've written yet.  
> m&m shippers might wanna skip this one because their relationship is strictly familial. i love their dynamic and love writing for them, but there's nothing romantic here.  
> my eternal gratitute to cait (@lacecat) for the continuous encouragement and beta read, and to @hannah-writes and @befitandchase for the sensitivity read for the parts on adhd. i don't have adhd personally, so i relied on their experience/advice and a bit of research, and hope i got it right.  
> as always, i kinda winged it with facts about america, so just go with it.  
> comments and kudos are always welcome, and do let me know if there's anything more i should tag!  
> i'm also on [tumblr](https://vlamito.tumblr.com)!  
> title is from a poem by rupi kaur

When Michael is eleven, he’s sent back to Roswell. All he wants is to run away from the group home they place him in and find his siblings, but he’s scared. He spends his days analyzing his surroundings, clocking the in and outs of the home’s staff. Every last person in the house is mean – they push him and pull him and slap him for one thing or another. He’s either too distracted during the endless mass they make him sit through once a day, or he’s speaking out of turn, or he’s scribbling away in his notebook while he should be paying attention to what the ancient nun is explaining about God. He tries telling them that he already _knows_ the stuff they’re explaining, that his brain is so _loud_ all the time and he needs to keep busy somehow, but they just look at him like he’s crazy and making it all up. Among all of them, the priest is the worst. He’s young and speaks politely, but there’s always a menacing cut to his voice that makes Michael curl into himself and away from Father Matthews’ hands. 

After two months of planning, he finally manages to slip out one night, because he can’t handle it anymore. Father Matthews had snapped that afternoon, saying that he never saw a boy his age being so ill-mannered that he can’t shut up when he’s talked to or sit still for more than a few minutes without fidgeting. Michael had tried to bite his tongue, he had, but the curse had slipped out of him. The following events are still a blur, but the cross-shaped burns on his left forearm are a testament to the fact that he doesn’t belong here – and he never will, because they think he’s a _monster_.

He soon realizes he severely misjudged the outside conditions. Though it’s almost the end of July, he’s shivering in his hoodie. It doesn’t matter, he tells himself. He only has to focus on running. He doesn’t know where Max and Isobel live, just hopes that they haven’t moved to another town since they last saw each other in their first foster home four years ago. In a normal situation, the police would probably be the first logical step, but Michael’s situation is anything but normal. So he runs until he finds a place that looks crowded enough for him to be able to find some help. He charges in the diner like he’s about to go to war and then just freezes. He stands in the middle of the restaurant, breathing heavily, still shivering with cold, until a man with a kind face approaches him. He swallows and tells himself not to flinch when the man puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you okay, son?” The man is smiling but has a worried glint in his eyes, and gives Michael’s scrawny body a disapproving once over like he wants to put all the food he can in him.

“I- Evans. Max and Isobel Evans,” Michael spits out, face tipped up to look into Kind Man’s face, “Do you know them? Sir.” He adds belatedly, grimacing. The man lets out a deep belly laugh and nods, leading him towards the counter.

“Tell you what, mijo, I’ll get you something to eat and I will call your friends. Pancakes or waffles?”

“Waffles,” Michael says without thinking. He settles on a stool warily, perched on the edge of the seat and ready to bolt, looking around himself like suddenly someone from the group home will show up and drag him back there. When he looks up, the man is whispering to a woman on the other end of the counter, and Michael feels his heart drop. Did they figure out who he is? Are they going to bring him back to the home? He’s not ready yet, he has to find Max and Isobel, has to know that they’re alright.

The woman is approaching him and he grips the counter until his knuckles goes white. She also has a kind smile on her face, and hair so big and curly that they contour her face like a halo. 

“Hello there,” she says. Her voice is low and sweet, like she’s speaking to a startled animal. “Do you mind if I sit next to you?”

Michael shakes his head and looks at her wide eyed as she takes a seat. He still hasn’t said a word.

“My name is Mimi,” the woman continues, smile still firmly set on her lips. She studies him for a second, takes in his bony frame and his messy hair before asking him, “Will you tell me what your name is?”

“’m Michael,” he mumbles, shying away when she reaches out a hand. He realizes, belatedly, that she was only offering it for him to shake, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

“Nice to meet you, Michael. Now, Arturo – that’s the man that’s making you waffles – is going to call the Evanses, see if they can come down here. If you’re ok with it, I’ll keep you company while we wait.”

Michael nods, swallowing around the lump in his throat. He’s on the verge of tears when a plate stacked full of waffles is slid under his eyes.

“There you go, mijo.” As Michael digs in after muttering a thank you, Arturo and Mimi exchange a look. After a few moments of silent communication, Mimi sighs and turns to Michael again.

“Michael, honey, can you tell us why you’re looking for the Evans twins?”

Michael looks up, chewing hard around a bite of waffles. He goes through the next set of actions very carefully, putting down the cutlery, swallowing, and wiping his mouth clean with a napkin. “They’re my siblings, ma’am,” he says in the most polite he can muster. Both Mimi and Arturo stare at him as he goes back to eating. There are no more words passed between them until the bell above the door finally rings, and then a shrill voice is calling for Michael and he’s on his feet and on the other side of the diner in a second. Suddenly, he’s being enveloped by four arms and he’s crying, face buried in Isobel’s shoulder as he holds on for dear life. Around them, Mimi and Arturo direct their surprised look at Ann Evans, who’d entered the diner after her kids and is now sporting the guiltiest of looks. She gestures for the other adults to join her in a corner so she can explain. When they’re settled in a booth, Ann drops her head in her hands and sighs. She takes a minute to collect herself, appreciating Mimi’s comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“When we went to the home to adopt the kids,” she starts after taking a deep breath, “Izzy and Max were clinging to one another. The social workers explained to us what had happened – their biological parents had died in an accident. There was another boy there, but he was frantic, restless. The lady looking after them told us he was their little brother, a year younger than them, but we didn’t have the means to adopt all three of them, and he obviously needed special attention. I’ve always felt so guilty, I tried to figure out a way to help them stay in contact, but the foster system doesn’t just give away information. The last I heard he’d moved to Albuquerque. I didn’t even know he was back in Roswell.”

Arturo and Mimi exchange a look, and then Mimi is placing a kind hand on top of Ann’s. “Did they tell you if he’d been diagnosed with something specific?” 

Ann shakes her head and looks back at her kids, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m- I can’t even imagine what he’s gone through. Look at him, he’s so thin. I should’ve done more, should’ve tried to stay in contact-“

“Ann,” Mimi interrupts gently, “You couldn’t have known. He’s obviously traumatized, the way he ran in here, but there’s nothing you can do now to change that. And look at that, you’ve already given him his siblings back.”

Ann sighs, blinking back the tears. “I don’t know. I don’t want to separate them again, but we surely can’t take him. Oh God, we don’t even know who’s fostering him now.”  
“Let me worry about that. We’ll get him home when they’ve had a bit of time with each other, and we’ll figure it out from there, alright?” Mimi smiles at Ann and waits for her to nod back, before she stands and excuses herself to go make a few phone calls, first on her list being Sheriff Jim Valenti.

Of course, Michael notices none of this. He’s too busy checking over his brother and sister for any signs of the same abuse he’s gone through when he finally extricates himself from the hug. Relief slams into him when he finds none, and more tears spill on his cheeks. Max and Isobel keep an arm each around him and start bombarding him with questions, but all he can do is cling to them and repeat to himself that they’re really here, and he doesn’t have to worry about them anymore. He promises them he’ll explain everything later.

*

Mimi DeLuca doesn’t have time for another kid, or the resources. She tells herself that as she watches Jim Valenti question an eleven-year-old wrapped tightly in a blanket, a nurse clearing the burns on the kid’s forearm. She presses her lips together and stands with Ann Evans as she listens to the story spilling out of the boy in monosyllable answers to Jim’s questions. Had the people at the foster home done this to him? Yes. Had he run away because of that? Yes. Did he know where he was going when he ran away? No – Yes – To his siblings. Did he want to go back? Not ever. 

She blows out a breath when Jim finally nods and stands, a hand running gently over Michael’s head. The boy recoils at the touch and snuggles further into the blanket. Jim shakes his head, the pain on his face an echo of what Mimi is feeling. He joins them on the other side of the diner, now closed.

“Kid’s been through hell. I’ll have to call social services, but I think what he’s told me is already grounds enough to pull him from there immediately.”

 _Thank God_ , Mimi thinks. Her heart breaks at she watches Michael stare out of the window blankly, now that he’s alone. Arturo had suggested for Ann to let Max and Isobel go up and rest with Rosa and Liz while Jim spoke to Michael. The boy had panicked when his siblings had walked away, but his face had quickly shut down when the Sherriff had asked him to sit. He hasn’t moved since Jim moved away.

“We’ll need someone to take him in while we do that,” Jim continues. 

“Let me,” Ann says immediately. “He’s Max and Isobel’s brother. I’m sure being near them now will help.” Jim nods at her and orders to one of his deputies to call social services to check on the foster home in the meantime. Michael goes meekly when Ann leads him outside, though a tiny smile does show up on his lips when his siblings join him in the car. Mimi doesn’t sleep that night, her thoughts haunted by images of scars and burns and priests.

She sleeps fitfully in the following week, too, as she tries to monitor the situation as much as she can. She learns from Ann that the social worker had gone to the group home and verified the claims, and that they were now looking for a new foster family for Michael. There’s no hesitation in her mind as she puts in the request to become a foster parent. She talks directly to the CPS worker that’s been assigned the case, and welcomes Michael in her home a week later. 

She sits Maria down and explains the situation, and to her credit, her daughter nods solemnly and only asks if she’ll have to share her room. Mimi smiles and says that yes, she will, at least until they figure something else out. 

Michael is wary to say the least when he walks into the flat. His eyes dart around him like he’s mapping out the place and looking for possible ways out. It makes Mimi’s heart break all over again and tears well into her eyes as she thinks about what the boy went through. She talks to him kindly, but not patronizingly, and doesn’t touch him unless she’s sure he wants her to – he almost never does. 

She works hard to convert the study into a room for him, and sees the first genuine smile on Michael’s face when he walks into his bedroom for the first time. The murmured _thank you_ would already have been enough to make her break down, but then Michael is wrapping his arms around her middle and pressing his face into her stomach, and Mimi cries silently as she holds him, her heart swelling in her chest.

Things aren’t exactly easy, after that. Michael is fretful and volatile on most days, easy to anger, and he retreats into himself often. Mimi tries not to press, to treat him the same way she treats Maria, but she’s worried. She also starts to notice how hard it is sometimes to get Michael’s attention when he’s focused on something – he’ll sit, pouring over that thing for hours, barely noticing the time passing or his surroundings, and he’ll be grumpy when he’s forced to snap out of it. With other things, he’s the complete opposite, fidgeting and zoning out even when she reminds him he has to focus. He also has a habit of blurting things out, and by the look on his face Mimi gathers that it’s something that got him in trouble a lot in previous homes. She remembers what Ann had said about the first time she’d met him at the group home, and starts doing some research on possible mental illnesses and conditions.

Her theories seem to be confirmed when the school year starts. It doesn’t take long for Michael’s teacher to call her in for a meeting. Miss Avila details Michael’s behavior in class – she tells Mimi that he’s either hyperfocused on his task or spacing out, seemingly when something is too easy for him, and that he’s constantly doodling during class, as well as speaking out of turn, though his answers are often correct, or he’s asking questions about a topic he finds particularly interesting, just not at the right time. His grades oscillate hard between low and high, depending on the subject. Miss Avila suggests, gently, that he might have some kind of attention disorder, and that a visit might be of help.

That’s how, after having gone through the interview process with child psychological services, Mimi finds herself in an educational psychologist’s office with Michael. He’s fidgeting where he’s sitting on the edge of his chair – another of his habits that Mimi had picked up on in the last few weeks – and when she asks, he just mumbles out a reply about hating doctors. Dr. Parsons asks Michael a list of routine questions, does the same with Mimi, then looks through Michael’s grades. At the end of it all, at least, they have a diagnosis. Dr. Parsons explains to Mimi the implications of combined type ADHD, especially the chance of depression and anxiety disorders connected to it – considering Michael’s history of trauma and abuse, he adds, it’s more than likely that he’ll face at least one of the two – and relays to her possible roads with cognitive behavioral therapy and different types of medication. He starts Michael off on Ritalin immediately, and schedules regular check-ups for the following two months. She nods along to everything he says, taking careful notes as she tries to push aside the thought of the worried look on Michael’s face, like he thinks he’s done something wrong.

The first few months after Michael’s diagnosis are tough as he tries to adjust to the meds – they have to go through a couple of tries, switching to Adderral after the side-effects of Ritalin don’t disappear. CBT starts slower, taking them more time to find a therapist Michael feels comfortable with. The fostering check helps cover the costs, as well as help from everyone in the community – the Evanses, who still feel guilty for leaving Michael behind; the Ortechos, offering free meals to help Mimi out; the Valentis, getting them recommendations and offering to drive Michael to therapy whenever they can. 

At length, Mimi starts noticing an improvement in Michael. His grades stabilize – he’s still way better than anyone else in every scientific subject, but he picks his grade up in the other subjects, too, where he was once lacking. He also seems to be sleeping better, and his mood improves significantly. It settles Mimi too, eases some of her worry, and with Michael feeling more and more comfortable in the house with each passing day, it also gets easier for them to bond. 

Mimi loves spending time with Michael. He’s smart, and she loves listening to him talk about obscure science facts no one else knows – let alone any other eleven-year-old – just as much as she likes to listen to Maria ramble excitedly about her friends. That is, for sure, a department Michael could use some help in, though he seems to have come out of his shell a little since Mimi first met him. She’s sure being around his siblings helps, as does Maria having taken him under her wing at school. His progress took time, but it’s worth it to see the smile on Michael’s face when he comes home from school one day in late January and announces to her proudly that he has been proclaimed Official Best Friend by Kyle Valenti. He tells Mimi all about how Kyle wants to be a doctor when he’s older, but not the kind Michael wants to be – that is, one with a PhD. She feels her heart grow twofold and knows, in her bones, that her kid will be alright. 

*

Maria likes having Michael around the house. She likes their bickering and she’d be lying if she said she never wanted a sibling, because she always has. Michael is not quite her brother yet, at least that’s what her mom says, but he becomes family pretty fast. They call each other names and have petty fights over their turns with chores. Maria finally understands what Liz has been grumbling about all these years.

She stoops too low on the name calling, just once, when they’re thirteen. Michael has been living with them for two years and is as close to being family to her than anyone else but her mom. They’re at the Crashdown having dinner one night, squabbling over a portion of fries, when it happens. Michael dips a fry in his milkshake and Maria wrinkles her nose at him in disgust and says, “Freak.”

As soon as the word is out, she slaps a hand over her mouth and her eyes widen. Michael has gone impossibly still, fry hovering halfway to his still-open mouth. Next to Maria, Mimi sends her a thunderous look that makes her curl into herself in shame. She knows exactly what caused the reaction – Michael isn’t ashamed of his ADHD, and they’ve all discussed it openly at home often enough that she knows about his previous experiences, of his life before the diagnosis, before he understood why he was the way he was, what people were like to him in the previous homes. That word carries an added meaning around Michael, one that makes Maria’s skin crawl with uneasiness, and she immediately wishes she could take it back.

“I’m sorry, Mikey,” she murmurs. She only ever uses that nickname when she’s done something awful and needs him to forgive her. This is one of those moments. She reaches a hand across the table and he takes it without thinking. His eyes soften, though there’s still pain etched into his features. Maria hates herself for having caused that, and spends the next week trying to make it up to Michael, until one day he rolls his eyes, calls her _freak_ under his breath with a shit-eating grin, and tells her she can’t use the word with him, but is welcome to keep calling him a nerd if she wants. They stick to those nicknames after that.

*

“Hey, M, you got a minute?” Maria taps on the doorjamb as she stops in the doorway.

From where he’s hanging upside down on his bed, strumming mindlessly on his guitar, Michael looks at her. She looks fidgety and insecure, which makes him frown worriedly. “Sure, what’s up?” 

Maria comes fully into the room and nudges him aside to settle on his bed, taking up most of the space as she sprawls next to him. She looks up at the ceiling as Michael starts picking through chords again, waiting for her to speak up.

“Need to tell you something.”

“I figured.”

“Shut up. It’s hard. I’m not sure.” Maria’s tone betrays her nervousness and Michael looks at her, his eyebrows drawn together. He sits up and puts down the guitar, but still doesn’t ask for more. He’s always been good at waiting for people to be ready and not pressing on issues when they’re not. From the look on Maria’s face and the way she wrapping and unwrapping her necklace around her fingers, he knows this is something she’s been thinking about for a long time. Knowing her, she’s even researched stuff at the library so she could put it into words before actually having a conversation with someone. Maria’s eyes never leave the ceiling to meet Michael’s, not even when she finally whispers, “I think I’m bisexual.”

He’s silent for the longest of moments. His brain has screeched to a halt, impossibly quiet, which is a rare occurrence for him. He just keeps replaying Maria’s words in his head over and over again, trying to find the right way to tell her that he’s had the exact same thought, had looked it up – because Maria’s not the only one whose brain functions better on research – and is pretty sure about it by now, at least on a theoretical level. But in the end, all that comes out of him a snort.

“What the hell, M?” Maria finally rolls to look at him properly, hurt flashing across her features. Michael’s eyes widen and he’s shaking his head, words rushing out of his mouth.

“Shit, no, I didn’t- I mean, I- Me too.” He finishes lamely. They stare at each other in awe for a second, tension easing from both of their bodies. Then, Maria eases back into her annoying sister attitude and kicks at Michael.

“I said it first. I call dibs.”

“That’s not how it works, Maria!”

“Yes it is, I said it first, stop copying me!”

“Kids!” Mimi is in the doorway, and god knows how longs she’s been standing there. Knowing her, probably since their conversation started. She’s staring at them with her eyebrows raised. They both grin back sheepishly and she sighs. “First, I love you both, and I hope you know that. Second, you can both be bisexual, this is not a competition.”

“It is, ma, and I said it first.” Maria grins and elbows Michael aside so she can stand.

“But moooom!” Michael whines from the bed. The second the words are out, he freezes. “I- I didn’t mean- I’m sorry, I-“ he stutters, breaths already coming fast and his chest tightening. He’s fucked up, he knows it, he’s shown them what he really wants and now they’re going to think he’s the saddest person alive and not want him anymore.

“Michael,” Mimi says gently, suddenly in front of him. She cups his face in her warm hands and smiles at him.

“I’m sorry, Mimi, I didn’t mean to-“ Michael squeezes his eyes shut, fighting back the tears. He has no right to call her that and he knows it, it’s not his place, he doesn’t _belong_.

“Michael DeLuca,” Mimi says firmly, and Michael gasps. “You listen to me. You are my kid, you have been since you stepped foot in my house, and I am _proud_ to be your mom. Please never apologize for using that word again. Understood?”

All Michael can do is nod and let Mimi wipe his tears away. She settles next to him in bed and lets him curl up under her arm like he used to do when he was younger and at least twenty inches smaller. After a moment, Maria curls up on his other side and drops her head on his shoulder.

“That was super sappy, M.”

“Shut up.”

*

Michael gets officially adopted by the DeLucas on his fifteenth birthday. He rips the paper from Mimi’s gift and gasps at the sight of a rectangular frame holding his certificate. He can’t help it, he loses it in front of everyone – Mimi and Maria, the Evanses, the Ortechos, the Valentis, who are all there to celebrate him. 

In the whirlwind of emotions that follows in the next couple of weeks, both Michael and Maria forget having, technically, also come out to their mom not a month before Michael’s birthday. It’s not until she summons them in the living room for the Talk that realization dawns upon them. It lasts a whole hour – an hour of them awkwardly sitting next to their mom as she explains in vivid detail how sex works, the consequences of it, and how to do it safely. She’s apparently done _a lot_ of reading and research in the last few weeks, because she doesn’t stop at sex with partners of the opposite gender. 

By the time she’s done, Michael has slipped so low on the couch that he’s almost laying all the way flat on it, his legs stretched out under the coffee table, and Maria has her face buried in her hands. It takes one shared look for them to swear off sex for the near future – not that either of them has an ideal partner in mind, for the moment.

That is, until Maria introduces him to Alex Manes. He has, apparently, just moved into town, his dad being in the Air Force and having recently been stationed in Roswell, and of course Maria took it upon herself to make the new kid feel welcomed immediately. Michael takes one look at Alex and it’s enough to understand why – he’s an outcast, like all of them. He wears total black even when it’s a hundred degrees out, smears eyeliner on his eyelids and has at least two piercings. The first thought that crosses Michael’s mind when he sees him it that he’ll fit in their little group perfectly. 

Maria brings Alex around the house along with the Ortecho sisters one day, makes Michael swear to keep his hands off of him when she notices the way he’s looking at Alex, then promptly kicks him out of the house. It’s not like they spend all of their time together anyway, so Michael just shrugs and calls Max and Kyle up for an impromptu video game night at the Max’s house.

Alex does, in fact, fit seamlessly in their lives, from the way he instantly picks up on Michael’s interest for music and asks him if he wants to jam some time, to how he’ll gladly stay in on a Saturday night to paint Maria’s nails (and get his own painted right back). There’s an underlying sadness in him that Michael can’t help but notice – he just shuts down, sometimes, especially when someone touches him and he’s not expecting it. He also shows up at school with conspicuous bruises way too often, and the excuses he makes up don’t really cut it, mostly because he doesn’t do anything more dangerous than skating, and that’s not really how someone ends up with a black eye and a split lip. Michael tries asking, more than once, but his questions are waved aside every time, so he just takes it upon himself, with Maria’s help, to offer their place as a safe space for Alex any time he needs it. 

One particular evening, Alex shows up for games night at the DeLucas with his shirt covered in blood. He looks terrible, his right eyes already swelling and blood dripping from his nose. He’s the last to arrive, so they’re all already gathered in the living room, and are frozen still for a moment when he stops in the doorway. Then, everyone moves at once. Michael rushes to him and checks him over, Maria runs to the bathroom to get the first aid kit, while Liz gets the ice from the kitchen. They sit Alex down and clean him up. He goes with it easily, though he seems completely zoned out through the whole thing. Only when Michael presses a clean shirt in his hands for him to change into does he snap out of it, eyes panicked and shooting from one person to the next frantically.

“Alex, you’re safe here,” Maria says, voice low and soothing like she’s talking to a spooked animal. Alex’s eyes focus on her immediately and she smiles encouragingly. “Want to tell us what happened, sweetie?”

With all of them sitting around him, Michael and Maria flanking him, Alex takes a deep breath before he says, “My dad.” It’s all he says, but it’s enough to make the room erupt with questions. Everyone asks differently, but it all boils down to _why?_ Michael watches, skin crawling with anxiety, as Alex shakes his head and shrugs. The next words coming out of his mouth shouldn’t be so easy to get out, and the way Alex breezes through them breaks Michael’s heart. “He hates me. Has hated me my whole life. Thinks I’m a perverted monster because-“ His breath catches in his throat and he curls in on himself, like it’s physically difficult for him to get the next words out, and even when he does, it’s barely more than a whisper. “Because I’m gay.”

They all, collectively, close their eyes at the words. There’s not a single person in the room that doesn’t know exactly what Alex is feeling right now – maybe not the physical extent of it, but the fear and shame, they all know intimately. Kyle is the first to speak up, kneeling in front of Alex. “Have you thought of going to the police? I could talk to my parents-“  
“No, please,” Alex interrupts him, panic clear in his voice. “He’s military. He’ll- He’ll kill me if he knows I’ve told people.”

“Jesus Christ, Alex,” Michael hisses through clenched teeth. He scrubs a hand over his face to try and calm himself down – now is not the time for a meltdown, not when they’re all supposed to be taking care of Alex. He reaches a hand out to him, smiling when Alex lets him take his hand. He looks at Alex steadily, tone firm when he says, “You can stay here for however long you need. You’ll be safe, I promise.”

Around them, their friends echo the feeling, and after a moment Alex nods to him with a watery smile. He sobers up not a second after, already sparking worry in Michael, but then all he asks is, “You don’t care at all? None of you?”

“What, that you’re gay?” Maria asks, head tipped to the side. Alex nods, shyly, confusion written all over his features when they all snort in unison. He’s clearly baffled by their collective reaction, if the way he opens and closes his mouth like a fish is any indication. 

“Honey, there’s not a single straight person in this room,” Isobel says, waving a hand to include the room at large. They all hum in agreement.

“We could literally start a club, so don’t worry about it,” Michael adds, a grin on his lips which morphs into a laugh when he sees Alex’s expression. His eyes look like they’re about ready to pop out of his head, they’re so wide. 

“Wh- _All_ of you?” Alex asks, tone awed. He looks around to get confirmation from everyone, and they all nod, one by one. After that, Michael notices Alex relax, little by little, as the night progresses. They share their own coming out stories – Maria loves telling everyone about the way she called dibs on bisexuality over Michael – and attempts at relationships. Alex listens, rapt, as Maria and Isobel recount getting together, and even elbows Michael when he makes a gagging noise.

They all end up having a sleepover in the living room, and though things don’t get any easier with Jesse Manes after that night, at least Alex knows that the DeLuca household is a safe haven. He’s tentative with it, at first, but with the more time he spends with the whole group, and with Michael specifically, he seems to grow more comfortable in who he is.  
He was already incredibly brave in Michael’s eyes, already standing up to his father in countless subtle ways, but now that he seems to have shed some of his shame, he looks lighter, like he got rid of a burden. Sure, it doesn’t help to heal the bruises any faster, but Michael sees the way he’s hardened into the knowledge that there’s nothing wrong with him, and that nothing his dad tells him will ever change that. 

It makes it all the easier for Michael to fall for him headfirst, but for weeks he’s unsure whether he should make a move, worried that he’ll screw up a beautiful friendship and lose Alex. Turns out, he’s got nothing to worry about, because Alex is the first to make a move. They share their first kiss at the UFO Emporium during one of Alex’s breaks, backlit by fake stars and giddy in their blossoming love. They keep it quiet, after, Alex being too scared of his dad and Michael agreeing because he cares about Alex and wants to keep their bubble of happiness intact for as long as he can, without allowing anyone else in, not even their friends. It’s perfect, just the two of them, though in hindsight he realizes they’re not being that subtle after all. Their friends all find out in a matter of weeks, in increasingly hilarious ways – at least, that’s what they’ll recount after the incidents, because in each of those moments they’re both ready to dig a hole to hide into for the rest of eternity. 

*

“Hey, nerd, can I borrow your-“ Maria swings Michael’s bedroom door open and immediately regrets it. She’s quick enough to slap a hand over her eyes, but the image of her brother’s pale ass is forever burned into the inside of her eyelids. “Ew, Michael! _Ew_!”

“Get out, Maria!” There’s shuffling and then a thud like someone has fallen off the bed, and then a hand is pushing her out, the door slamming in her face a moment later. She takes her hand off of her eyes and blinks at the closed door, frozen. 

“Wait, was that Alex? Michael! You jerk, open up!” She spends two minutes pounding on the door before a still flushed Michael opens it, Alex hanging awkwardly behind him. At least they’re both dressed, though a bit ruffled. Michael glares at her as he pushes past her to get to the living room. She follows hot on his heels, careful to avoid Alex’s eyes the entire time.

“I said my friends were off limits!” She starts as soon as her brother settles on the couch. Hands on her hips and putting up a gruff voice, she goes on, “You can trust me, Maria! I won’t even breathe in your friends’ direction, Maria! I’m a man of my- Wait a minute.” She stops when she sees Michael shift awkwardly on the couch. “That was two weeks ago. Were you already dating him when you said that?”

Michael just shrugs, burying himself further in the cushions. Next to him, Alex is looking at everything but the two siblings.

“Oh my _God_ , Michael! I cannot unsee that now!”

“Will you stop being so dramatic? You’re literally dating my _actual_ sister! I’m allowed to date someone I think is hot, even if they’re your friend!” 

They glare at each other, both with their arms crossed over their chests, until Alex clears his throat and asks timidly, a blush rising on his cheeks, “You think I’m hot?”

Maria scoffs and throws her arms up. She storms out to her bedroom, muttering, “I give up” as she tries to tune out the sounds of kissing coming from the other room by blasting Evanescence from her stereo. She texts Isobel and asks to be rescued, and that’s how Michael’s other sister finds out.

*

Kyle, Liz, and Max all find out at the same time, a week later, because they’re in a weird three-way relationship Michael hasn’t had the guts to question them about yet. It’s not nearly as compromising a situation as it was with Maria, though come to think of it, they might have picked a better spot to make out that wasn’t in the cabin of Michael’s truck at the drive in on a Saturday. So sue them, they wanted the real high school experience.

Liz is giddy with the news, pinching their cheeks enthusiastically, while Kyle just rolls his eyes at them and tells Alex he hopes Michael got better at that, for his sake – which Michael is about ready to kill him for, while Alex swears he’ll get the details to that story when they’re alone. Max hangs back, watching the scene unravel in front of him silently, but he does pat Michael on the shoulder before they leave them be.

Rosa, of course, finds out through Liz, and that’s how they find themselves in the DeLucas’ living room once again, to swear their friends to secrecy, cross their hearts and hope to die, because were Jesse Manes to find out, hell would get loose. Lucky for them, they have some of the best friends in the world, and it’s not like anyone else at school gives a shit about them anyway.

*

After their first time – when they finally manage to get past a handy without being interrupted – Michael stares at the ceiling in his bedroom and feels like crying. He doesn’t know why, exactly, and feels rather like an idiot for it, but it’s just kind of overwhelming, being so close to Alex like this. Alex, who’s lying on his back and giggling. Michael turns his head just enough to catch a glimpse of him.

“What?”

“Is it always like this or are you just particularly good at sex?” He asks, still laughing and breathless. Michael rolls onto his side and props his head up on his hand, staring down at Alex with a small smile.

“It’s never been this epic before,” he admits after a second, smile widening at the smug expression that overcomes Alex’s features. 

“But how did you?” Alex asks after a moment of silence, shuffling closer to Michael.

“How did I what?”

“Become this good at sex,” Alex elaborates, a blush rising on his cheeks even as he gets the words out. “You said it was your first time with a guy.”

“It _was_. My mom kinda covered all the bases with her talk.” Michael shrugs, then laughs at Alex’s groan. He drops back to the bed so that he can curl into Alex’s side, settling in further under the sheets.

“So… Was your first time good?” Michael sighs from where he’s settled his head on Alex’s shoulder, ready to tell Alex that he’s got nothing to worry about, but when he looks up at him there’s genuine curiosity in Alex’s eyes.

“It was… Fine.” He shrugs, as best as he can.

“Just fine? Who was it with?”

“Alex-“

“C’mon,” Alex pleads, pouting. “I’m living vicariously through you.”

Michael shakes his head and laughs at his boyfriend’s ridiculousness, shifting a little so that he can cuddle up to Alex even more. “Tess.”

“Harding?” Alex whisper-shouts, causing Michael to snort.

“Yeah, you know any other Tess?”

“Actually, yeah, but that’s beside the point. I thought she was into Max.”

“She is.” Michael shrugs again. He starts drawing random patterns on Alex’s chest, delighting in the shivers that his touch causes. “I guess I was second best? Not that I didn’t want it. It was fine, she was nice about it and all. But nothing special.”

Alex hums, a hand burying itself in Michael’s curls and making him sigh. “Am I special?”

It takes Michael a moment to answer, not because he doesn’t know what to say – the answer, from the first moment he’s laid eyes on Alex, has always been yes – but because there are a million thoughts going through his head. Fear of somehow fucking up, fear of Alex’s dad finding out, or the homophobic dicks at school, fear of himself growing tired of Alex. He’s terrified of hurting him, of the need to move on he knows will settle in after the novelty of it all has washed off. But beneath it all, the truth still shines like a beacon at him: Alex is special, and he’ll fight tooth and nails to keep what they have for as long as he can. 

He finally shifts onto his elbow again when he focuses back on Alex and can feel him start to fidget. He balances on his right arm and cups Alex’s face with his left hand, thumb stroking along his cheekbone. He sighs in relief when Alex sags under his touch. He presses small pecks to Alex’s forehead, the tip of his nose, the corner of his lips. He showers him in kisses, and along with those, he presses the same words over and over into Alex’s skin: _you are, you are, you are_.

*

“So, Prom.” 

“Hm?”

“Prom,” Maria says again. She kicks Michael’s leg when he ignores her and goes right back to scribbling notes in his AP Physics book. Michael sighs, taking the bait.

“What about it?” 

“Ugh, how can you be so obtuse? Were you dropped on your head when you were a kid?”

“Nha. I was in a car accident, though.”

“Oh, are we still milking that?”

“Yeah, we’re still milking that. I can bring up the rest of my fucked up childhood if you want.”

“Fine! Jesus.” Maria huffs a put upon breath and redirects her attention to the tv. She’s quiet for all of five minutes before she cracks and asks, “Are you gonna ask Alex?”

From Michael’s side of the couch comes a disbelieving laugh. Maria looks over to watch him shake his head at his homework. 

“What? You’ve been dating for months!”

“Yeah, in secret, genius.” Michael’s eyes haven’t left the page, but Maria can see the tension in his shoulders. “I’m pretty sure his dad would kill us if we went to prom together. And I mean this _literally_. You know how Manes is.”

Maria hums in agreement and scoots closer to her brother. She doesn’t hug him, but she can sense him relax at the closeness. “Are you going with Iz?” he asks after a moment. It’s Maria’s turn to laugh, or better, snort.

“Yeah, right. Like she would ever be seen in public with me.” She’s trying to brush it off, but there’s hurt underlying the joking tone and Michael notices it immediately. He finally looks up from his book, brow furrowing. 

“What do you mean?”

“I just-“ Maria sighs and shrugs her shoulders a little. “She’s so distant sometimes. I know she has this ice queen reputation to uphold and I’m this- this _freak_ , but the other day she acted like she didn’t even see me at the Crashdown.”

Michael frowns and tips his head to the side. Maria has to repress a grin, because his hair always flops along with his head when he does that and he looks remarkably like a puppy. 

“Did you try talking to her?” he asks.

“Wow, you’re a real genius, Michael. No wonder you got that scholarship.”

Michael shoves at her and she flops back on the couch, her feet propped up in his lap even as he grumbles. She stares at the ceiling for a moment, considering. “I don’t know. I guess she sees this just as a high school fling, and since we’re graduating soon…”

Michael hums and taps a rhythm against her shins, his attention half on his homework and half on his sister. “That may be. But whatever people at school say, Iz isn’t heartless, and she isn’t cruel. She’s probably going through some shit. Don’t ask me what, she doesn’t tell me anything. But I’m sure she’ll listen, if you go to her.”

Knowing full well he’s right, Maria nods her head a little. Sure, Isobel has always been as abrasive with her as she is with anyone that is not her brothers, but she’s never actually intentionally hurt her. She might be going through something, and above anything, Maria wants to help. 

Two days later finds Michael slamming his open palm against the door of Maria’s bedroom, trying to make himself heard over the music blasting on the other side. “Maria! Turn it down, Jesus!”

The door is yanked open and Maria glares at him. It’s rather ineffective, because her eyes are full of tears and there’s mascara smudged under them. They stare at each other for a second, and then Maria is pulling him in and slamming the door shut again before throwing herself in his arms.

“Uh,” Michael says stupidly. He catches on quickly, wrapping his arms around her. They stand hugging for a while before Michael manages to direct them to the bed so they can sit. He turns the music off before wrapping his arm around Maria’s shoulders again. “What happened?”

“She dumped me.”

 _Shit_ , Michael thinks. He didn’t expect that. He didn’t like to involve himself in his sisters’ love lives, let alone when they were dating each other, but this does come as a surprise. They’ve been together far longer than he and Alex have. In fact, they’re the most stable relationship in their friends group. Though, come to think about it, the few times he’s asked them directly, they’ve both waved it off as something recreational, nothing serious. He’d always rolled his eyes at that because he wasn’t blind and could see how crazy they were about each other but now, he seems to understand that one of them had apparently meant it more than the other. Maybe he’d been wrong when he’d told Maria that a conversation would resolve things.

He holds Maria as she recounts the break up in between bouts of fresh tears. Michael sits through it as much as he can, only interrupting her to go over some of the points again when it gets too garbled. By the end of it, he’s able to gather that Isobel has broken things off because college is basically on their door step, they’re going to different universities, and she doesn’t feel like long distance would be worth it. He makes a note to give her a stern talk, but for the moment he just holds Maria close.

“Y’know,” he starts when she’s calmed down enough, “You give me so much shit for listening to what Alex listens just because I like him, but I’m pretty sure you listening to Jonas Brothers to get through your break up beats that.”

“Michael?” Maria’s voice is still watery, and she doesn’t look at him, but he freezes nonetheless.

“Yeah?”

“If you tell anyone what I’ve been listening to, I _will_ murder you.”

*

Maria is curled up on the couch with Liz and Rosa for their weekly girls night, bowl of popcorn set firmly in her lap as she presses start on the _Mean Girls_ dvd they’ve already watched a thousand times. Her mom is at work and Michael hasn’t come back home yet, so she’s commandeered the living room for the night. Graduation is soon, and Liz is leaving for her road trip right after that, so this is one of the last nights they’ll spend just the three of them together. Maria wants to make the most of it.

They’ve barely gotten to the “On Wednesdays we were pink” line when her phone rings. Rosa groans and throws a popcorn at her head – interrupting _Mean Girls_ is grounds for friendship penalty among them – but they all quickly sober up when Maria’s face goes entirely blank. The caller ID shows that the call is from Alex, but all she can hear is panicked breathing and the distant sound of numerous voices that indicates he’s in a busy place.

“Alex?” She tries, blood thundering in her ears. She looks helplessly over at Liz and Rosa.

“M-Maria,” Alex’s voice finally comes from the other end, breathy and high, “You have to come to the hospital, right now.”

“Are you ok?” Maria shoots up from the couch, already scrambling for her jacket and grabbing Rosa’s car keys. With Alex’s abuse history, they’re all automatically on edge whenever the hospital is mentioned.

“I’m fine, please just- you have to get here. And bring your mom.”

The line goes dead and Maria swallows around the lump in her throat. She relays the few words to Liz and Rosa, and they’re out the door in less than two minutes. Rosa drives them the two blocks to the Wild Pony so Maria can drag Mimi out and into the car, explaining what little she knows once again. They’re rushing into the ER’s waiting room within twenty minutes of Alex’s call, only to find him pacing back and forth in front of the reception.

“Alex!” It’s Mimi that calls for him first, rushing to his side so she can bring him into a hug. “What’s wrong, kiddo?”

“It’s- Mimi, it’s-“ Alex’s breaths are coming fast and heavy, so shallow that Mimi worries he’s going to pass out. She settles her hands on his shoulders and forces him to focus on her, talking him through the worst of the panic attack. Once he’s calmed down enough, she leads them all to a line of free chairs and sits Alex down.

“Now, why don’t you try again?” she asks gently.

“It’s Michael,” he whispers, eyes welling up with tears. “I- We were in the shed, behind my house, we go there sometimes… My dad got home early.”

Mimi’s eyes slip closed and she draws in a deep breath. Next to her, Maria curses under her breath and places an arm around Alex.

“Mimi, he-“ Alex presses his fingers to his eyes to keep from breaking down again, takes some deep breaths, and continues, “He smashed Michael’s hand with a hammer. I got him here as fast as I could, but they haven’t told me anything because I’m not family and I just-“

“Alex,” Mimi cuts him off, her voice as gentle and soothing as ever. Her hands cradle Alex’s face and she swipes at the tears falling from his eyes with her thumbs. “It’s ok. You did really well. I’m going to find a doctor and see if I can get to Michael, ok?”

Alex nods a little, attempting a smile. It comes out pained and he can’t contain the tears when Mimi presses a soothing kiss to his forehead before going out in search of a doctor. He collapses against Maria, a steady flow of apologies being muffled by her shoulder.

“Alex, it’s ok. It wasn’t your fault,” Maria whispers into his hair, arms tight around Alex’s shoulders. Rosa and Liz join them, both placing gentle hands on what they can reach of Alex’s back. Their eyes are wide in fear and Maria is sure their expressions match her own. 

It’s a tense hour after that before Mimi comes back, Michael in tow with a cast covering his left hand and reaching up to his elbow. Aside from that, he looks just fine, if a little shaken. Alex immediately shoots up from the chair and crushes into Michael, sobs escaping him and perfectly audible even with the way his face is pressed into Michael’s neck.  
Maria looks away from the scene – it feels too intimate for her to watch, though she can still hear her brother whispering soothing words to Alex as they sway in place. She’ll get her own hug in later, but for now she relishes in the feeling of relief washing over her at the knowledge that Michael is safe. 

“They’re so cute together,” Liz sighs next to her, sagging into Maria’s shoulder as she relaxes.

“Yeah, I guess.” Maria shrugs, but there’s a smirk on her lips. She’ll never admit it to Michael because she has a sisterly reputation to uphold, but she loves seeing him and Alex around each other, the way they go soft around the edges and entirely smitten. Add to that the fact that, from the night’s events, she also knows they’d do anything to protect each other, and her heart melts into a puddle of goo. 

The peace lasts all of five seconds, of course, before Sheriff Valenti is barging into the waiting room. He gets one good look at Michael before Mimi is up in his face, threatening to kill Jesse Manes. Maria stares at her mom wide-eyed – and, alright, she knew her mom was a badass, but this is a whole new level. Her chest swells with pride at the fierce protectiveness Mimi DeLuca has when it comes to her kids. 

Valenti listens to her rant patiently, nodding along with a frown pinching his features. When she’s done, he approaches Michael and Alex. Maria can hear him talk about questioning and depositions, assault charges, child abuse. She grits her teeth at it, pushing down the guilt that comes from wishing she could’ve done more for Alex, got him out of that house sooner. She vows, out loud and echoed by both of the Ortecho sisters, that she’ll always do her best to protect Alex in the future. 

*

After high school graduation, their friends group starts unraveling a little. Rosa leaves for art school in California, following Liz and Max for a part of their trip, while Kyle heads to Michigan for med school. Isobel, who had already started isolating before graduation, leave for a solo trip to Europe. That leaves Michael and Maria in Roswell, cramming in as much time as they can with their mom in between shifts at the Crashdown for Maria and work at the cinema for Michael to save up for college. Michael had had to give up his job at the junkyard, which he’d loved, after the incident with his hand. Alex stays in Roswell, too, having moved in with them after Jesse had been convicted. They leave for UNM in late August, both carefully overlooking how teary-eyed they’d gotten over their goodbyes with Mimi.

College years aren’t the easiest for the DeLucas, but at least they’re in Albuquerque together. They worry about Mimi a lot, and try to get back to Roswell any time they can to check on her. She always rolls her eyes when they show up to her door, and assures them that she’s fine, she can take care of herself, they should be keeping an eye on each other and not on her. They know, but it doesn’t keep them from establishing a network of people that will keep them posted on how she’s doing.

Maria works through her Business degree while Michael studies Engineering. They share a flat because they’re already used to living with each other and can’t be bothered to look for new people. It’s tiny, but they each have their own room so they can have people over if they want to – and sure enough, Alex is a permanent fixture on most weekends, when he visits from the Firefighting Academy in Socorro. Maria doesn’t mind, not even when Alex and Michael get loud – it’s never because they’re fighting, and it makes her wrinkle her nose at them when they emerge, always looking sheepish, the next morning – because Alex is still her best friend and she’s glad she gets to see him so often. She also likes seeing her brother happy, not that she’ll ever tell him that.

She dates a little, lets her friends from class drag her to concerts and frat parties. At one point, there’s even a guy named Chad – Maria can basically _feel_ Liz roll her eyes when she tells her over the phone. He’s not particularly bad, but Michael ends up punching him in the face after two weeks when he sees him get too handsy and that’s the end of it. She still misses Isobel, but she gets good at not asking after her whenever Michael comes back from spending time with his siblings. She also develops a disturbingly precise ability to avoid her when she’s in Roswell – not that it matters, because then she and Michael are graduating shy of a week of each other, and Isobel shows up at Michael’s ceremony along with everyone else, hand in hand with a young and promising law student. She waves Michael’s worried gaze aside and sticks close to her mom and Liz for the rest of the day.

Maria moves back to Roswell after graduation, as so many of her former classmates from high school do – not Liz, though, who’s on her way to her second degree already, nor Michael, who’s flying through grad school. Alex moves back a couple of months after Maria does, freshly out of the Academy and a rookie in the Roswell Fire Department. They spend most of their free time together at the Pony, which Maria is learning to run so she can take over from her mom in the near future, no more as a bartender but as the owner. Alex brings his coworkers with him on several occasions – they’re young and rowdy, and have the exact energy the bar needs, though Maria has to keep an eye on them so they don’t start brawls with the Sherriff’s Department. She ends up having to set different nights for the two groups to come in so that the competition doesn’t degenerate, which is how, coincidentally, she also starts seeing more of Max Evans. She remembers Michael mentioning him going through the training to become a deputy and though she’s a little sad he didn’t get to stick with his plan to become a writer, she’s happy to see he’s doing well. Max is as nice to her as he ever was, but he’s not as tentative as Michael is when it comes to talking about Isobel – whether it’s because he doesn’t know or care how things ended between them, she’s not sure.

Isobel herself, Maria learns from Max, is currently living in San Francisco while her boyfriend, Noah, finishes law school at Stanford. She’s apparently become an event planner and is doing well for herself, according to Max, which Maria is genuinely happy about. She may not have gotten completely over it yet, but she wishes no ill upon Isobel. Her ability to avoid her wanes a little over the following years – first, it’s just catching sight of each other when Isobel is back in town for the holidays, but it slowly escalates to Maria letting Michael drag her to various parties which Isobel also attends and which always, inevitably, end up with him finding some place to hide in with Alex to make out and Maria having to entertain herself. She’s proud of herself anyways, because with time she manages to work past the glaring-and-not-talking thing she and Isobel had going on and they’re able to move on to polite small talk. The fact that Noah is possibly the sweetest human alive also helps – Maria can’t bring herself to hate him, or them, when the man makes Isobel smile like a thousand suns.

It doesn’t matter anyway, because she has stuff to do. She twenty-five and has a business to run, with no time to spare to think about Isobel Evans’ smile, or her lips, or her hair. She curses herself and focuses on her work, on Michael and Liz finally being back into town, ironically both working together on the same experimental study, which they try to explain to her countless times over dinner at Mimi’s. She doesn’t get it, fondly calls them nerds over it. She’s just happy to have them back. 

*

“Hey, freak.” Michael walks into the Pony and strides right up to the bar, letting himself in the back where Maria’s doing inventory.

“Hey, nerd,” Maria replies easily, smiling up at her brother as he leans down to kiss her head. “What’s up?”

Michael hoists himself up on some crates and looks around the messy room. He knows, from experience, that it’s a perfectly controlled chaos – everything’s actually in its place, just not in the order everyone else would expect it to be. “Gotta tell you something.”

Maria raises a single eyebrow at him and heaves a sigh, but puts her clipboard down anyway and waits for Michael to speak. He opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, and Maria is starting to worry when he finally blurts out, “I proposed to Alex.”

There’s a stunned and heavy silence for a minute, before the room is filled with Maria’s excited shrieks. She throws herself at her brother and hugs him so tight that he taps on her arm to ease her chokehold.

“Oh, I can’t believe you two pulled your heads out of your asses before Liz and Max did!” She says excitedly, smacking a resounding kiss on his cheek, much to Michael’s annoyance. She’s kidding, of course. She’s always known Michael would end up proposing as soon as he found a stable job that would make him worthy of Alex. As if that was ever the problem with them, she thinks as she rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, well, in his defense, I know Max’s been planning on proposing for a while. He just wants everything to be perfect, because he’s a control freak.”

Maria nods in agreement – if that isn’t the most accurate description of Max Evans, she doesn’t know what is – and smiles when she adds, “Liz will probably end up asking _him_.” They both laugh at that. After holding on to Michael for another good five minutes, easy silence between them, she draws back and takes his arm to drag him to the counter. “We have to celebrate this.”

They break out the good tequila and settle on the stools, side by side, as Maria pours them each a shot. 

“Have you told mom yet?” Maria asks after she’s downed her drink, the alcohol burning pleasantly down her throat.

“I was gonna do that after I came here. You’re less intimidating – Ow! Maria!” he yelps when she pokes his side, hard, and he almost spills his drink.

“That’s what you get for saying I’m not intimidating.” She smirks at him and fills her glass again, leaving him to fill his own because he has two functioning hands. “So.”

“So?” 

“Oh, come on! Don’t keep me waiting, you jerk!”

Michael shakes his head with a smile. He turns to her slowly, taking his time, and has her squirming by the time he asks, “Will you be my best woman?”

“Finally! Yes!” She doesn’t hug him again, but she does give him a fond smile and a pat on the head like she used to do when they were kids. “Did you figure out the rest of the wedding party already?”

“Max has a license, so he’s going to officiate. Alex has Liz and Kyle as best woman and man. And, uh-“

“Oh, no.”

“I’m sorry, M. She’s my sister, too.” Michael looks entirely too apologetic and Maria has never really been good at ignoring his puppy eyes anyway. She reaches a hand over to squeeze one of his and smiles again as he relaxes. She loves her brother too much to let years-old resentments get in the way of him having a perfect wedding. If it’s going to make Michael as happy as she knows he’s feeling now, then she’s going to suck it up and be co-best woman with Isobel Evans. 

*

Mimi DeLuca is thoroughly enjoying her retirement. That’s not to say that she doesn’t still hang around the Pony most days, but she’s learned with time to control the amount of advice she dishes out. Maria is doing a great job at managing the bar anyway, so it’s easy to sit back and just enjoy the atmosphere of her favorite place in Roswell.

On the day she learns her son is getting married, though, she’s having lunch at the Crashdown. Michael had called to say he’d be a little late for their weekly lunch date, so she went ahead and got a headstart on the food. She gestures wildly with a fry to get Michael’s attention when she notices him walk in, absolutely delighted when she sees the usual grin reserved just for her spread on her son’s face. He greets her with a kiss on each kiss before sliding into the opposite side of the booth.

She chews on her fry thoughtfully, studying Michael with her head tipped to the side and her eyes narrowed, before she asks, “Have something you want to say to me, young man?”

Michael groans and dumps his face in his hands, making Mimi laugh. She’s always been good at reading her kids, even without her psychic abilities. There’s a glow in Michael’s eyes that Mimi has come to associate with one Alex Manes, only today it’s more pronounced than on any other day. She waits for Michael to be ready to talk, happily making her way through her meal.

“Mom,” Michael starts, only to stutter to a halt. He licks his lips, wringing his hands together. She recognizes the signs of him getting lost in his emotions, so she immediately reaches for his hands with both of hers. 

“Michael DeLuca, you listen to me,” she says, looking right into his eyes, “You have nothing to fear from me. I’m your mother and I love you.”

It makes Michael smiles, just a little, and he gives her the tiniest of nods. He still worries his bottom lip with his teeth for a moment, but then the words are coming out like a flood, happiness barely contained. “Alex and I are getting married, mom.”

She can’t help it – she shrieks in delight and is out of her seat before he’s even finished speaking, throwing herself in his arms. She can hear him laugh next to her ear, a wet sound that indicates he’s definitely also crying. They hold on to each other for a long time, and even when she finally pulls back, she only nudges him to the side so she can sit next to him. She opens her mouth to order him to tell her everything, but he precedes her.

“Will you, uh. Will you give me away?” His voice is small and Mimi is having none of it. She cups his face in her hands, ever so gently, and plants a kiss on his forehead.

“My sweet boy,” she says, tears already gathering in her eyes even as Michael is rolling his own – a reflex to being the object of affection that he hasn’t quite learned to overcome yet, even after all these years. But sue her, she is getting emotional, and he’ll have to suck up to it. “I’m so proud of you. And I’d love nothing more than to walk you down that aisle.”

*

“You know, I’m a little surprised you managed not to kill each other.” Michael sidles up to Maria, two champagne flutes in his hands, and offers her one, which she accepts gratefully. She’s still staring at the spot on the dance floor where Isobel is dancing with her husband. 

So far, the wedding has been a resounding success, and she’ll have to admit that having Isobel’s company plan for it all had been the right call. The reception hall is stunningly decorated in silver and blue, everyone is having fun – after having cried their fair share of tears during the ceremony, because both Michael and Alex’s vows were incredibly sappy – and indeed, she hasn’t started a fight with Isobel all night. Not that there haven’t been moments when she _wanted_ to, because if there’s one thing Michael and Isobel have in common, it’s the ability to annoy the shit out of her when they set their minds to it. 

“I can’t believe she got married and I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me?” The last she’d heard from Max was that Noah had proposed after he’d made junior partner at his firm, but for some reason – probably wishful thinking – she hadn’t actually expected them to have exchanged the vows yet. 

Michael shifts on his feet and clears his throat. He takes a sip from his drink before he shrugs helplessly. “You never wanted to talk about her, always got this crease between your eyebrows when she was brought up. I figured, since she moved to San Francisco and you hadn’t seen each other in years, you wouldn’t really care.”

“I _don’t_ ,” she says hotly, but the way she’s looking Isobel’s way is telling a completely different story. 

“Sure,” Michael hums. He finishes off his drink and puts it on the nearest table before he turns to take her hand. “C’mon, I want you to meet someone.”

“I’m not really in the mood, M.”

“It’s my wedding day and you have to do as I say.”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works.” Maria rolls her eyes but follows him anyway.

“Sure is.” Michael grins back at her. “But really, you have to meet Max’s new partner.”

“Ugh, no. No, no, no.” She puts her foot down and jerks his arm back. “You’re not setting me up with a 40-something white guy who’s either grossly racist or fetishises black women.”

She ignores Michael’s unimpressed eyebrows and opens her mouth to continue, but he beats her to it. “You know, I never said it was a man. And you wound me if you think that I don’t know your type.” 

That shuts her up, alright. There’s a flush rising to her cheeks and she grumbles to dissimulate her awkwardness, following Michael with her head down when he starts walking again. She only looks up when Michael calls, “Cam? I want you to meet someone”. Maria’s breath catches in her throat as she sets her eyes on the statuesque blonde in front of her. She has pale green eyes and looks ethereal in her ocean blue pantsuit. Turns out Michael actually _does_ know her type. 

Maria knows Michael is talking, introducing her, and she’s in control enough to shake Cam’s hand when it’s offered to her, but her speech abilities have been compromised. Cam and Michael make small talk for a while, and she nods along to it, trying to find her words so she doesn’t completely fluke this before she’s even had a chance. Then, Michael is excusing himself and winking at her as he goes off to find Mimi, babbling about a promised dance, and Maria is left alone with the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen. Damn Michael to hell and back.

*

It takes exactly four dates for Maria to fall in love with Jenna Cameron. She’s smart and quick-witted, her tongue just as sharp as Maria’s, and a total badass. There is, Maria finds, also a vulnerability to her that makes her just that tad bit more attractive. Their fourth date is actually just sitting together at the Pony because Maria is behind on book keeping, but Jenna doesn’t seem to mind. She sits next to her nursing a drink as she rants about the patriarchy and always been seeing as nothing more than Cop Barbie. Maria hums in sympathy as she goes through the receipts of the last month and when she looks up, it’s to find Jenna looking at her with soft eyes, fight gone out of her as she studies Maria. The intensity of her stare makes Maria blush, and she laughs awkwardly when Jenna reaches a hand out to tuck a wayward curl behind her ear. She knows, in that moment, that she’ll probably end up marrying this woman. 

Jenna also rapidly becomes a permanent fixture in their friends group, thanks to both Maria and Max. She starts joining them on group nights at the Pony on Wednesdays – the only day in which the bar is relatively empty because there’s nothing else planned, so Maria can leave the bartenders to deal with the clientele and relax with her friends; it’s also one of the only days that Alex can sit next to the two deputies at the bar without creating a stir. Jenna fits seamlessly into Maria’s life, like she’s always been there. It reminds her of when Alex moved to Roswell, how easy it had been for them to incorporate him into their group. 

Their friends all take their relationship in a stride when they finally come clean about it. Michael grins at her knowingly, and she rolls her eyes because she knows he’ll take full credit for it. She’ll let him have it, because she’s just too happy to care, not only because she’s in a stable relationship that makes her feel appreciated and _seen_ , but because she hasn’t lost any of her friends in the process. Her relationship hasn’t taken over, it’s just been woven into her life like another ring in the chain. 

She watches, rapt, as Jenna and Alex discuss their different experiences with the military – Jenna having served two tours before becoming a deputy, Alex having grown up in a military family – and then compare trainings. She squirms as Michael brings up embarrassing childhood stories and Jenna drinks them in with a smirk, then relaxes when Michael moves on to the safer topic of his new teaching position at UNM. She smiles when Max awkwardly introduces Jenna to Liz and Kyle, after having listened to him debate about it with her for weeks, because yes, they’re still all in the same three-way relationship they were in during high school, only now they’ve gotten over their own denseness and are actually calling it what it is – polyamory. Everyone in the group had just shrugged at the news, because they all knew already anyway, and Maria’d guessed that her bet with Michael over who was going to propose first between Max and Liz would just have to add another option. 

Maria stares, awed, as Jenna and Isobel make nice to each other at a New Year’s Eve party. She’s even more surprised when Isobel actually comes over to where she’s standing to tell her she’s happy for her, and that Jenna seems to be an amazing person. In all their years of resentment, they’d never gotten closure, both too stubborn to say anything, but Maria finally feels the weight drop off her shoulders and for the first time in almost a decade, she smiles a real smile at Isobel Evans. 

Maria moves into Jenna’s place five months and three weeks after they start dating, waving aside the thought that they’re moving too fast. Jenna fits into her life like a puzzle piece, one that had been missing for the longest of times, and Maria feels _whole_ with her. She’s not going to wait on happiness because she’s scared about possible risks – she’ll just have to take them. 

*

For the second time in her life, Maria is rushing to the ER after receiving a panicked phone call. When she skids to a halt in the waiting room, the sensation of déjà-vu hits her like a physical blow, only this time, the situation is reversed – it’s Michael sitting on one of the chairs, slumped forward with his face in his hands as the room bustles around him. From where she’s sitting next to him, Jenna looks up with a distressed look. They’d been out for their usual Saturday night date when she’d been called in because of the fire, and she’d been the one to call Maria.

She takes one huge breath and joins Michael, sitting on his other side and placing a hand between his shoulders. She feels him sag under her touch, but otherwise he doesn’t move.

“Michael?” she tries, voice soft as she rubs her hand up and down his back. “Any news?”

Just as Michael starts shaking his head, the door to the ER opens and Kyle strides out. Michael is on his feet and in Kyle’s face in seconds, demanding information about Alex. 

“He’s out of surgery,” Kyle starts, voice low and soothing as he places a hand on Michael’s shoulder, only to be shrugged off. He doesn’t seem to take it personally – after all, he and Michael have been friends since childhood. Maria knows he’s fully aware of what’s on the line for Michael in this moment.

“I need to see him.” Michael looks just about ready to punch Kyle, hands clenching tight into fists, and Maria is by his side immediately. She doesn’t touch him, knowing that it might just make things worse and send Michael into a proper meltdown, but her quiet presence seems to settle him a little. They both look at Kyle as he goes on.

“Michael, I understand your worry, but we’ll need to monitor him for the next few hours until we know he’s stable. He’s not ready yet.”

Michael makes a wounded noise at that, fingers tugging at his hair as he starts pacing in front of Kyle. The doctor turns to Maria and Jenna, who has now also joined them, tucking his hands in the pockets of his coat. There’s a haunted look in his eyes that betrays just how worried he actually is behind his mask of professionalism. 

“How is he, Kyle?” Maria asks. Her heart is thundering in her chest and she can already feel the prick of tears at the corner of her eyes, but she tells herself to keep it together, if only so she doesn’t upset Michael any further.

“He’s-“ Kyle looks back at Michael and bites his bottom lip. After a second, he calls out to Michael to get him to stop pacing. “You should hear this.” He stops just long enough for Michael to join them again, then continues, “We had to remove the bottom half of his right leg. The damage was too extensive.”

Maria covers her mouth with a hand as her eyes dart to Michael, who’s gone perfectly still, all blood gone from his face. He doesn’t look like he might punch Kyle anymore, but he does look like he’s about to pass out.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, but we managed a transfusion. Once we’re sure he’s stable… Look, it’ll be a lot of rehabilitation and PT and medication, but he’ll be fine.”

It seems impossible to overcome all that comes before the last sentence to focus only on that, but Maria grasps at those few words with a vengeance. Alex will be fine. He’ll be _fine_. She repeats them to herself and to Michael, trying to get him to focus on the hope and not the blind fear that’s clouding his brain at the moment.

The next hour is tense. Michael goes back to pacing when Kyle disappears into the ER again, and were it just for the situation, Maria wouldn’t be too worried about it. But she knows her brother and notices the little ticks, the way his eyes grow distant in some moments and he snaps himself out of it, the way he tears through a couple of magazines in the small window of time he spends sitting, and how he twirls his wedding band around his ring finger over and over and over again, to the point where Maria is scared he’ll wear through the skin. She finally calls for him and sighs in relief when he drops next to her.

“Have you taken your meds?” she asks, as gently as she can. Judging by how long he’d already been at the hospital when Maria had arrived, she thinks it’s fair to say that he’s skipped at least one dose. As if on cue, he shakes his head, then drops it on her shoulder.

“Ok, this is what we’re gonna do. I’m going to your place and I’m bringing back your meds, and Jenna’s going to stay here with you and keep you company, alright?”

“I’m not a child, Maria.”

“No, but you’re in shock, your husband is just out of surgery, and you’re flooding. I’m not leaving you completely alone.”

He sighs, but squeezes her hand in gratitude before she moves to stand. She drops a kiss to his forehead and one to Jenna’s lips, leaving them with the promise to be back as soon as possible.

When she gets back, an hour later, Michael is half asleep against Jenna’s shoulder. Maria shakes him awake gently, handing him the medication bottle, which he takes gratefully. While he’s off to find some water to swallow the pills, Maria drops into his vacated chair, cuddling up to Jenna with a tired sigh. She smiles at the feel of lips brushing against her hair. 

“Valenti came back,” Jenna says. At the questioning sound coming from Maria, she continues, “Alex is stable. They’ll get Michael in there in the next hour.”

“That’s good,” Maria says around a yawn.

“I’ll have to get to the station for my shift in a few,” Jenna adds, fingers tangling with Maria’s in her lap. She doesn’t move, despite her words, and Maria just hums. Her eyes feel heavy and she barely notices Michael getting back, half asleep as she is, but seeing his face, now more relaxed, sparks something in her. She licks her lips and rights herself, body turning fully to face Jenna, who throws her a questioning look.

Maria inhales deeply, once, twice, before the words tumble from her lips. “Marry me.”

And Jenna- Jenna _laughs_. A startled, almost hysterical thing, that dries up quickly when she sees Maria’s expression. Her eyes dart to Michael for a second, but he looks almost as stunned as she is, so she just gets out, “Are you serious?”

“I am.” Maria nods decidedly, fingers tightening around Jenna’s. Some of the anxiety gripping her heart eases when Jenna squeezes her hand right back. “Look, your job is dangerous. Something like this could happen to you any day, and I hate the thought of not being able to be by your side because I’m not family.”

Jenna’s eyes widen further, if that’s even possible. She swallows, a small smile on her lips as she defaults back to sarcasm for her reply. “So you want to get married just in case something bad happens?”

Maria closes her eyes, instead of rolling them, and curses herself under her breath. In hindsight, it might not have been the most romantic proposal ever, nor the best way of phrasing it, nor the best moment to do it. But screw that, she wants to marry Jenna – whether it’s now, tired and smelling of hospital and strung tight with tension, or in two years in a perfectly planned ceremony. She doesn’t care.

“You sat by my side all night, and when my brother needed company, you stayed here, no questions asked,” she starts after taking another deep breath, “You get me out of my head when I get too lost in work, and bring me comfort food when I need it, and are content to just sit by my side in silence when I need it.” Her eyes are welling up with tears and so are Jenna’s, and she’s pretty sure Michael is filming them and several people have stopped to watch them, but again, she doesn’t care. “You’re a badass, but also a nerd, and I love you. I would regret it forever if I waited just one more second to ask you to be my wife.” They’re both full on crying by now. It doesn’t look pretty, but they’re tears of happiness, so Maria figures it’s ok. “I don’t have a ring, and I promise I’ll redo the proposal when I get one, but for now- Jenna Cameron, will you marry me?”

Jenna doesn’t, exactly, say yes. She throws herself at Maria and kisses her deeply, their tears mixing as they laugh into each other’s mouth, kiss uncoordinated and messy. She does nod against Maria’s forehead when they draw back, though, and that’s all Maria needs.

When they pull apart, Michael is there, handing them tissues with a little smirk on his lips, which doesn’t really work because his eyes are puffy and red, and Maria knows it’s not just from tiredness and worry. He’s pocketing his phone as he sways back and forth, and Maria rolls her eyes. “Just spit it out.”

“I was just gonna say congrats.” He shrugs, hands shoved deep into his pockets. “Just know this will never top _my_ proposal.”

Jenna snorts as she wipes the tears from her face. She wraps an arm around Maria and grins up at her brother-in-law-to-be. “Don’t worry, DeLuca. I’ll make sure I’ll get it right when _I_ propose to her.” 

In hindsight, Maria might not have considered just how bad an idea it would be to make these two family. It doesn’t matter, because she has a fiancée, she’s getting _married_ , and- _oh crap_ , she’ll have to tell her mom.

*

The months after Alex’s accident are some of the hardest Michael has ever had to face in his life. He takes time off from teaching so that he can stay at home and take care of Alex, but Alex isn’t the same person he was before losing his leg. He’s diagnosed with PTSD fairly quickly after the accident, which makes his mood even worse. He’s irritable and Michael can see he’s in more pain that he needs to be, because he’s too stubborn to take the dose of medication he’s supposed to. Michael guesses he’s afraid of getting addicted to the painkillers, but he’s taken enough meds in his life that he knows Alex needs the help if he wants to get better.

Truth be told, it’s a little hypocritical of him to berate Alex for not taking his meds, when he forgets his own on most days. He’s had to pick up everything that Alex was used to doing before around the house, things Alex had always taken care of because he knew how Michael’s mind worked and he didn’t mind doing them himself. Now, he just stares mournfully at Michael as he tries to meet all the deadlines for their bills, and mutters advice under his breath. Michael not taking his pills means that he’s also subject to more frequent mood swings, so having Alex skulk doesn’t help. They fight on most days, though they always come back to each other, exchanging apologies that end up being meaningless, because the cycle repeats itself day in and day out.

Michael knows Alex is in pain, knows he feels useless and that after spending all his youth under his father’s thumb, not being able to get by on his own is freaking him out. He _knows_ all of this, logically, but his mind isn’t logical when he’s off his meds, tired, and spending most of his time worrying about his husband. He just wishes Alex would set his pride aside for one second and let him _help_. 

For months, they teeter on the edge of a divorce, always just one more big fight away from one of them bringing it up. They’re both too stubborn to give up on each other, Michael thinks, and that’s what eventually gets them out of the loop. 

Alex is finally getting fitted for a prosthetic, his stump having healed enough for him to put the weight on. Michael supports him as he learns to walk again, through his PT, patient even when Alex yells at him to leave him alone. He grits his teeth and swallows the remarks, and just helps Alex back up again when he falls. It’s not until he finds Alex curled up in the bathtub, crying, that he finally decides he’s had enough and lets months’ worth of words spill from his mouth as he holds Alex against his chest.

“I need you to snap out of this, Alex, please.” He presses his face into Alex’s neck, cradling Alex’s body to him. He doesn’t cry, but he feels scraped raw. Alex still hasn’t said a word. “I need my husband back, _please_.”

Alex makes a wounded noise, tries movies away from Michael’s embrace, but Michael is having none of it and holds him firmly in place. Alex cries, and cries, and curses at him, then immediately apologizes for it, over and over again. His words are barely intelligible as he sobs. “I’m not- I’m not worth it, Michael, I’m just a _cripple_.”

Michael holds him closer, the words like a dagger to his heart. He shakes his head and presses kisses to Alex’s wet hair, holding back the tears. “You’re worth every second of it and I love you, no matter what.”

It takes hours for Alex to calm down, for him to accept Michael’s words and stop apologizing. Michael has several things he also feels the need to apologize for – the fact that if he’d been on his meds he could have been more helpful; the fact that he shouldn’t have let Alex take care of so much before, so that he felt that it was his fault things weren’t working well around the house while he was bedridden; the fact that they’d both been too caught up in their resentment that they’d forgotten their _one year anniversary_ two months back. But right now, what’s important to him is that Alex understands Michael’s feelings haven’t changed. Alex’s body might have, but the love Michael feels for him is burning just as bright as it always has, for almost ten years now. 

Alex is exhausted by the time they finally make it out of the bathroom and into bed, so Michael just cradles him close and rocks him to sleep. The next morning, they have sex for the first time since Alex’s accident, six months prior. Michael spends hours worshipping every inch of Alex’s body, showing just how much he still wants him, has _yearned_ for him in the past months. He knows it’s not enough to salvage their marriage on its own, but it’s a start. 

*

“Michael?” Michael looks up from the final he’s grading to look at where Maria is perched on the edge of his desk. Her face makes it clear that she’s been trying to get his attention for a while, though she doesn’t look bothered by it, just a little worried.

“Sorry, changed my meds last week and I’m still adjusting,” he says, wiping a hand over his face. “And hey, am I supposed to let my students down because your wedding planning isn’t going exactly the way you want it to?”

“You’re such an asshole.” Michael sticks his tongue out at her and goes back to the test. There’s silence for a minute, and then some shuffling. When he looks up again, ready to sigh and throw Maria out, he sees she’s shifting uncomfortably. He finally puts down the paper and crosses his arms on his chest.

“What’s going on, Maria?”

“Will you walk me down the aisle?” She blurts out, making Michael’s eyebrows shoot up almost to his hairline. His expression softens when he notices how nervous she truly is, and he smiles gently.

“Of course. I’d be honored.” He has his arms around her before she can say anything else. After a moment, all he gets back is a small, but immensely fond, “Jerk.” He laughs and holds her tighter, pressing her own nickname with a kiss into her hair.

A month later, he’s walking into a private room at Roswell City Hall with Maria on his arm, looking absolutely breathtaking in her simple white gown. Jenna is waiting for her next to the justice of peace who’s going to officiate the wedding. She’s in her Air Force dress blues, Max at her elbow, and Michael can see her eyes welling up with tears as they set on Maria. He knows the feeling, because he had the exact same reaction when he saw Alex on their wedding day. 

He presses a kiss to Maria forehead when they stop in front of Jenna, then moves to the side, smiling at his brother as he stands next to him. He’s not ashamed to admit he cries during the vows, even though he’d been there for both of their proposals and this is just a reiteration of that. It’s all in the atmosphere, he reasons – their friends and families gathered around them, all dressed up for the occasion; Maria and Jenna setting their love into paper, for the world to see. It brings back the memories of his own day two years ago, and though the last year hasn’t been easy, when he shares a look with Alex, sitting in the front row, he knows his husband is thinking the same thing.

The reception is held at the Wild Pony, because Maria and Jenna are not nearly as fancy as Michael and Alex had been – their words, not his. The important things are all there anyway, they say: booze, food, music, and good company. That’s all they need. 

Michael gets one dance in with his mom and one with each of his sisters – because, somehow, Maria and Isobel had repaired things enough for Isobel and Noah to be invited to the wedding – and at one point he's even pressed between Rosa and her girlfriend, before the food is served. It’s nothing too complex, just tacos and quesadillas, enough to feed an army. He sits back down next to Alex at what’s been dubbed the wedding party’s table with a sigh. 

“I’m starving,” he announces, already reaching for a taco.

“Uh, yeah, you’ve been dancing all night.” Alex smiles at him, but Michael can see the nostalgia in his eyes. He squeezes Alex’s hand with a small smile of his own, trying to put into the touch what he cannot put into words – that he wishes they could still dance together like they did at their wedding, that he hopes Alex will get to a point in his recovery when they’ll be able to do it again. Alex’s smile grows and they nod at each other. 

The next hour, they spend demolishing the food. When every single plate has been scraped clean and they’re all groaning at their overstuffed bellies, Michael grabs his glass and rises to his feet. The bar grows quiet as he announces it’s time for toasts. He can hear Maria curse and grins down at her with a wink.

“As most of you know, I met my husband thanks to Maria,” he starts, a hand on Alex’s shoulder. He can feel everyone’s eyes on him and he clears his throat – it’s not like he’s thought this out, but best men make toasts at weddings, so that’s what he’s going to do. “I guess now we can say we’re even, because I’m taking full credit for making this happen.” He gestures at Maria and Jenna with his glass, grinning at the scattered laughs that follow the joke. He licks his lips and turns to look at Maria directly before continuing, a serious expression overtaking his features. “I don’t know, exactly, how to put into words how happy I am for you right now. When I was a kid, you and mom took me in, gave me a home. Not only that, but you welcomed me into your family like I’d always belonged there.” He can feel Alex squeeze the hand he still has on his shoulder and knows he’s getting a little choked up, but he goes on. “I’m not sure I’ll ever have enough time to thank you for all you’ve done for me, so I’m just going to thank you for one right now. Thank you for loving me, all this time. I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become, and being here with you today means the world to me.” 

He sniffs and can see that a few tears have already fallen onto Maria’s cheeks, but she’s smiling so hard he’s almost scared her face will split in two. He clears his throat and turns his attention to Jenna, who tips her head at him with a grin. “And Jenna- Thank you for loving my sister the way she deserves. She told me once that you make her feel like she’s found her place in the world, and if I have learned anything from my own marriage,” he pauses long enough to smile down at Alex, impossibly fond, “It’s that that’s how you should feel when you marry someone. So congratulations to you both!” 

He raises his glass as he finishes his jumbled mess of a speech, and everyone around him cheers and claps before drinking. He sits back down as Max stands for his own speech. Alex turns so that he can settle with his back pressed against Michael’s chest, sitting half on his lap as he watches the others take their turns toasting. Michael wraps his arms around him, left hand covering Alex’s. He relishes in the way their rings click together as he perches his chin on Alex’s shoulder and enjoys the speeches. As his eyes wander over the room, taking in all of the people that have come to form part of their found family over the years, he feels a sense of peace wash over him. At lenght, his eyes stop on Maria. He finds her already looking at him fondly, and the feeling of _belonging_ takes root in his heart.


End file.
